With a focus on developing high end security pigments, Luminochem has released a demo video showing how its LuminoMark UV fluorescent pigments can be applied on medicine blisters for brand protection.
The pigments produce a multicoloured image that is invisible under normal light, but that is revealed with a standard UV reader, providing an easy way to verify the authenticity of labels.
© Luminochem.
In a LinkedIn post, Barry McDonogh, CEO of TruTag Technologies, has announced that the first production run of smart medicines for a new programme is complete and en route to patients. TruTag developed this project in partnership with Colorcon® and Thermo Fisher Scientific.
TruTag’s on-dose smart medicine solution incorporates safe, covert silica microparticles in pill coatings that can be optically read by mobile phones, enabling every pill to serve as a potential data point. Until now, no on-dose technology has used the standard mobile phone as the authenticator.
The digital transition enabled by TruTag’s solution offers the potential to safeguard, engage and communicate with patients through personalised, digital interventions related to their oral medications.
In 2023, TruTag formed its Smart Medicines Advisory Board, comprising five experts in various fields, including pharmacology and pharmaceuticals, clinical strategy, patient-centred outcomes, and digital health innovation. These include representatives from Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, BioMarin Pharmaceutical, Novartis, Society for Clinical Research Sites and Verily Life Sciences.
Continuing its efforts against personal protection equipment (PPE) counterfeiting that arose from the COVID-19 pandemic, 3M has established the new 3M™ Verify app to help companies ensure their PPE is authentic.
The app helps validate a disposable respirator carton in real time by using advanced technology to identify a barcode and determine if a product package is genuine. A genuine result provides a high degree of certainty that the product is an authentic 3M™ Disposable Respirator. An inconclusive result means the package is either not recognised or a potential counterfeit, at which point the user is advised to contact 3M directly for further investigation.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, 3M has worked closely with law enforcement and governments worldwide to combat counterfeit 3M products. During COVID-19, in September 2022, it seized more than 58 million counterfeit respirators, removing tens of thousands of fraudulent e-commerce offerings and suing wrongdoers in a bid to stop frontline workers from being exposed to misleading schemes.
3M’s website, 3M.com/3MVerify, provides resources and information for customers, distributors, employees, and the general public to avoid purchasing counterfeit 3M products.
German manufacturer of specialty labels for the healthcare industry Schreiner MediPharm has introduced late-stage customisation for RFID labels, which allows the labels to be supplied on short notice and with order-specific programming of the integrated RFID chip.
Under the new service offering, the labels are initially produced in larger volumes with integrated RFID inlays and warehoused as semi-finished goods. Upon request by the client, the preproduced labels are subsequently customised by means of digital printing and delivered at short notice.
According to Schreiner, the service offering also ensures the reliable performance of the integrated RFID chips, as a result of continuous quality inspections. The chips can be individually programmed as needed, and can also be combined with preproduced functional labels. This opens up many potential applications, from detachable documentation labels to integrated hangers for infusion bottles, to the integration of functional varnishes and security features.
Koenig & Bauer (K&B), in partnership with Graphic Security Systems Corporation (GSSC), has launched Stegano, a new range of authentication solutions based on steganographic technology, which they showcased at drupa 2024.
Under the partnership, GSSC brings its expertise as sole supplier to the US Department of State for steganographic technology and software for the US passport card, while K&B contributes its know-how in printing presses and machine vision systems for quality control.
Steganography, the art of concealing a message or information within an ordinary, non-secure design or physical object, lies at the core of modern anticounterfeiting efforts.
Stegano can be printed with various K&B presses, such as flexo, offset, and digital. With this new solution, K&B is expanding its authentication portfolio into different technology types for various end markets.
YPB Group has received its first order for 2 million serialised ProtectCode™ QR codes from Ecocan Recycling, under a three-year master service agreement.
Ecocan, based in Kenya, enables beverage packaging, waste collection, and processing of PET bottles, aluminium cans, glass bottles and cartons via a vending deposit return scheme. It has also created the ‘EcocanApp’ for consumer engagement.
Ecocan has developed reverse vending machine (RVM) solutions to allow beverage containers to be redeemed for value, thereby reducing the waste burden and allowing the development of a recycling infrastructure.
YPB’s solution addresses fraud in RVMs in that the serialised codes allow for advanced analytics, anticounterfeiting monitoring, track and trace, and product authentication. YPB’s CEO sees potential beyond this contract, as redemption schemes and RVMs gain global traction.
